


There to Protect You

by TheDoctorIsIcecube



Series: The Freedom Institution [1]
Category: Class (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Powers, Gen, No Aliens, they're children in this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-25
Updated: 2016-11-25
Packaged: 2018-09-02 05:28:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8652718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDoctorIsIcecube/pseuds/TheDoctorIsIcecube
Summary: Matteusz has been here longer than he can remember. He's never had an ally who's lasted, but then Charlie shows up. Tiny, inept, and honestly having no chance, Matteusz has no idea why he offers his friendship. But he does, and that is the beginning of everything.





	

Matteusz found the boy slumped against the wall. He was small, smaller than him, and his clothes were so ragged and dirty that he couldn't tell what they were meant to look like. He crouched down, offering his hand, and the boy just looked at him. Distrusting. That was good...there were far too many people here who would take advantage of trust. "I can get water to wash your face," he said. He couldn't get water to drink or food to eat, at least not for this boy, but he could promise water to wash the blood from that split cheek away.

The boy just nodded, and Matteusz thought that his hair might be blond under all the dirt. He had moved a little, into the light coming in from the window, but his eyes were still shadowed, as was most of his face. He fetched a cloth as well, and then brought everything out to the new boy. "I can clean face if you want," he offered. "Or you can do it yourself."

The boy snatched the basin and cloth away from him, spilling water over his knees and Matteusz's feet. Matteusz did his best not to curse at him for that. He held it in, because that boy had probably suffered enough already. He just sat back and watched as the boy washed himself, scrubbing vigorously enough at his cut to make it start bleeding again. Elementary mistake.

"Be gentle," he said, and the boy's eyes snapped up to him, shining warily. He was clearly close to tears. "Dab at the cut slowly, then wash, and then dab again." The boy studied him for a few moments longer, and then slowly started to follow Matteusz's advice. Good. He was learning who to trust.

"She has a really good punch with her left hand," Matteusz said, touching his ribs on the left of his body. They will hurt from yesterday's beating. "If you focus on avoiding those, you probably won't have any broken bones."

The boy nodded, touching his own ribcage in the same spot. There seemed to be less pain when he did, so perhaps Quill hadn't hit him quite as hard. "What is your name?" The boy asked. His voice was very quiet and very shaky, and his bright eyes wandered away from Matteusz's gaze. He was afraid.

"Matteusz." He smiled and offered a hand that was rejected. He wondered if the boy knew what a handshake was.

"My name is Charlie, I think," the boy said. Matteusz decided not to question him on that. He might decide his name was something completely different in a moment. People changed when they came here, it was a fact. Matteusz wouldn't question whatever this boy wanted to be known as. But...he liked Charlie, for now.

"Are you scared?" He asked. He wondered how long Charlie had been out on the streets for. He wondered what had happened that caused Quill to be told to take him in.

Charlie looked down at the floor, clearly not willing to give an answer. Matteusz couldn't blame him. No one here wanted to answer questions like that. "I'm scared," he said. There was never any point hiding the truth. This place was scary. Living like this was scary and he didn't want to conceal the truth.

"...Me too," came the eventual answer, accompanied by a sigh. "Why are you scared? Haven't you been here a long time?"

"I don't remember how long," he said. All he knew was that his parents had sent him here to try and get Quill to get the ability to come out of him so he could use it. He just wanted to be away from the pain, he didn't care about special powers.

"So it doesn't get any better if you're here longer?" Matteusz shook his head, and Charlie sighed. "Great."

"You get to go away if your power shows," he said. He knew that, and he tried very hard, but he could feel that it was locked away inside him. He knew it was there, everyone knew it was there, but no one could get it out.

"I don't think that's going to happen," Charlie said darkly. "I just want to go home, not fight people..." Matteusz nodded. He remembered that feeling. He remembered refusing to fight, but it didn't work. Lots of people tried not to, but it never worked. He didn't want to say that, though, so he kept his mouth shut. "Is there anywhere to sleep?" Charlie tried to push himself up to stand, and failed. "I don't know how anyone expects me to fight when I can't even stand."

"On the floor," Matteusz suggested. There were two beds upstairs, but he didn't fancy helping Charlie up to one and then spending a sleepless night guarding the boy's bed so he wasn't thrown out of it before he woke.

"Oh." Charlie looked distastefully around himself. "Here...? Or do you have some form of designated sleeping floor?"

"We could go upstairs," he said. "Is quieter up there, but sometimes there is fighting over the beds." There were lots of people who were bigger and stronger than him, and they generally reserved the beds.

"I see." Charlie tried to stand up again, sighing glumly when he failed. "Would you mind helping me up, please?" Matteusz nodded and held both his hands out to Charlie. He understood that exhaustion, that weariness that just prevented anything from being done. He hated it, and he wished he'd had someone to help him when he was alone.

Charlie took his hands and hauled himself up, stumbling and falling forward into Matteusz's arms, just for a few moments. He quickly tried to straighten himself, but he wasn't strong enough to stand on his own. Matteusz sighed and put an arm around his back. The boy was heavy at the moment, much heavier than he'd be in a few weeks. "Careful," he warned. "Try not to let people see that you are weak." That would only end in Charlie getting even more hurt.

Charlie huffed with the effort of attempting to stand up properly. He was clearly completely exhausted, and Matteusz considered just hiding him in a corner downstairs and hoping he didn't get murdered in the night. "Do you want to try the stairs?" It wasn't too far from here to there, and it would be at least a little bit safer upstairs.

"I can try," he said, but already his breathing was laboured and he was shaking. Matteusz wasn't sure if he'd be able to carry him up the stairs if his legs gave out.

"Pretend like there is something chasing you," Matteusz suggested. "Will get adrenaline going. Make stairs easier."

"What?" Charlie looked at him, seemingly very confused. "I can't just pretend." As much as Matteusz hated the way that they were all being treated, he sort of felt like leaving Charlie to his fate. He didn't make this easy at all.

"Is go upstairs or get hurt more," Matteusz glanced around them both, searching for anyone listening. Charlie just nodded and started walking. He was clearly unsteady, but at least he was making an effort to hold himself up now. Matteusz could help now.

He had an arm around Charlie's waist, slowly and carefully helping him towards the stairs. This was going to take a while. As soon as they were up in a vaguely safe area of a bedroom Matteusz would let him sleep. There was no sense in plying him with further questions today, and the likelihood that the outburst which he must have suffered recently had scrambled his mind a lot was very high.

The stairs were approaching now, and Charlie looked up at the twenty steps with a heavy sigh. "Do we have to climb these?"

"It is safest," he said, quickly losing his patience. "I don't know where you came from and I don't know what you're used to, but if you don't want to do that little bit of extra work then you will die very quickly." Charlie just looked at him, thankfully not complaining any more, and slowly put his foot on the first step. It looked like it would be a lot more than just a little bit of extra work.

"Do you know what day it is?" Matteusz asked. It was probably good to check if Charlie's mind needed some extra attention. If it was left to do nothing straight after an outburst...Matteusz had seen what could happen.

"Oh. No, I don't think I do." Charlie frowned even more deeply, carrying on slowly up the stairs. "Hmm..."

"Tell me anything you remember," he said. He should have checked this earlier, it was so important to save his mind, especially as Charlie's body clearly wasn't up to much.

"I remember lots of things, just nothing in recent memory." Charlie sighed. "Is that a problem?"

"It might be," he said. He had a blank spot for the few days surrounding the outburst he'd apparently had. He'd only be worried if Charlie had no memory in the morning. "We'll see."

"Okay..." They were about halfway up the stairs now, and Charlie looked ready to collapse. This was not good.

"Keep going," he said. "Keep going or we'll both be attacked. And if I get hurt on your account, I won't be happy." He didn't want to hurt Charlie or drive him away, but the weak just didn't survive here. Maybe that sounded harsh, but it was true. And it seemed to be enough to convince Charlie to pick up speed a little, which was definitely good. "You can sleep as soon as you're safe," he promised. Trying to achieve anything else now was hopeless. He could get a protection promise out of him when he woke up.

"I feel like I could sleep for a week..." Well, he certainly wouldn't be getting the chance to do that, Matteusz thought. He'd be lucky to sleep for a few hours.

"Just get the sleep you can," he said. He wanted to sleep too. He'd been up all day running errands for Quill.

"I will..." They finally reached the top of the stairs, and Charlie slumped back against Matteusz, exhausted and shaking a little. Matteusz sighed, but he helped Charlie get into a room that was almost empty. Hopefully nobody would bother them in here, and they could both get some sleep.


End file.
